H I S T O R Y

HISTORY

For thousands of years, Aboriginal people from the Dharawal language group occupied the area south of Botany Bay and down to the Illawarra.Following Captain James Cook’s epic voyage and stopover at Botany Bay in 1770, the continent was annexed at Possession Island.Later Botany Bay was recommended as a penal colony to help solve Britain’s burgeoning prison population. The First Fleet arrived in BotanyBay in January 1788. Though the association was brief, Kurnell, at Botany Bay is renowned as the ‘Birthplace of modern Australia.’Finding the site unsuitable, the colony was established at Sydney Cove from which the city of Sydney developed. The area south of Botany Bay remained largely unsettled for the next 100 years.​Early European occupation had a devastating impact on the Aboriginal population.Sparsely settled well into the twentieth century, the Sutherland Shire maintained a rural character with orchards, market gardens, poultry, dairy farms and piggeries. Kilometres of beach and river frontage and the National Park to the south helped to provide an idyllic environment.A rush of post war migration after 1946 led to closer settlement and the transformation into a denser urban environment. The Sutherland Shire area has a rich Indigenous and European history.

A Sutherland Shire flag

In 1929, Sutherland Shire Council commissioned a flag for official purposes that incorporated the redcross of St George on a white background with aspects of Captain Cook’s coat of arms. In the centre ofthe cross is a wreath of laurel surrounding a blue field, representing the ocean, a globe of the world and two golden polar stars. The ocean, globe and stars were the arms of Captain James Cook granted to him in recognition of his discoveries in the Pacific Ocean.

Click here to read more about Thomas Holt and his life story 1811 - 1888a dynamic colonial pioneer of the Sutherland Shire.